What the hell is this?

[Paul Carmel]

Does anyone know what 'Spelunking' is? We're adding our property to vacapedia....com , one of those with hundreds of boxes to tick (first time I've seen 'umbrella' as a feature!) Clue: it's in the activities section.

[Loopy Lou]

Main Entry: spe·lunk·ing
Pronunciation: -ki[ng]
Function: noun
: the hobby or practice of exploring caves

I googled it!

[Paul Carmel]

Thanks Lou,

What happened to good old potholing?

[Loopy Lou]

I expect it's an American term. Correct me if I am wrong!

[Big Sis..]

Spelunking'

What a great word though cant wait to introduce it into a conversation

[greenfrog]

I expect it's an American term. Correct me if I am wrong!

Yep, it's what Americans call potholing. The French call it spéléologie.

[debk]

America's a big place and we call it spelunking in my neck o' the woods.

Which reminds me of this long-term study which plots the geographic distribution of Americans who use the terms "pop", "soda" and "coke" to generically refer to a carbonated beverage.

http://www.popvssoda.com/

Basically, I don't think Americans can agree on anything.

debk
(born "soda" but matured into "pop")

[Overboard]

Map looks right for my neck of the woods. I dont recall ever hearing an American call a soda "pop" and I've been here 10 years. I wonder what "other" refers to. Never heard of spelunking either, but then I'm not a potholer... except when driving.. always find nice deep ones then

[debk]

I dont recall ever hearing an American call a soda "pop"

Until now: Pop, pop, pop!
debk

[Giddy Goat]

They used to call potholing speleology in Oz too - don't know if that's changed in recent years. Bit of a mouthful really!